Ribbon Rage
When
Microsoft introduced Office 2007 the main thing everyone noticed
was that the familiar menus and toolbars had been replaced by the
Ribbon. Some people took to it straight away while others
raged.
So if you've just started using Office
2007 and you've not got to grips with it yet or you're still raging
read on to get a few tips that might help!!
What is the
Ribbon?
Why have a Ribbon?
Put your most used commands on to the Quick Access
Toolbar
Move the Quick Access Toolbar closer to the work
area
Minimise the
Ribbon
Minimise
the Ribbon for only a short time
Do all of the above
but faster
Don't use the
Ribbon for formatting
I can't find the
icon!!!
I want to see a
familiar dialogue box
What can't you do?
What is the Ribbon?
The Ribbon is a set of application
specific tabs with each tab containing a group of commands relevant
to a task area.
Some tabs are contextual in nature and
will appear or disappear depending on what you are doing. For
instance in Word the Design and Layout tabs only appear when you
insert a table and will disappear when you stop working on it.
Why have a Ribbon?
So many new features have been added
to Office since its initial design that the original menus and
toolbars could no longer deal with the functionality of the
software adequately. The Ribbon was therefore invented with
the hope that users could more easily access the commands.
Put your most used commands on to the Quick Access
Toolbar
Find the Quick Access Toolbar at the
top left hand side of your Office application
Click on the down arrow to the right
of the toolbar
Select from the commands you can see
or
Click More Commands for further
options
By selecing More Commands
you have access to every single command in the application.
Move the Quick Access Toolbar closer to the work
area
Click on the down arrow to the right
of the Quick Access Toolbar
Select Show Below the Ribbon from the
list
Minimise the Ribbon
Alas you can't delete or replace the
Ribbon but you can minimise it.
Click on the down arrow at the end of
the Quick Access Toolbar
Choose Minimise the Ribbon
Only the tabs will be in view
Or alternatively press Ctrl and F1 to
minimise and again for the Ribbon to reappear
To select a command click on the tab
you need and then the options under that tab will be available for
use
Minimise the Ribbon for only a short
time
Double click on the active tab and the
ribbon will minimise
Double click on a tab and the
ribbon will be restored
Do all of the above but faster
Right click on the Ribbon itself and
you will get a menu option allowing you to do all of the above
Don't use the Ribbon for formatting
For basic formatting it's quicker
to use a mini toolbar than use the Ribbon.
Either right click in the document or
select the text to be formatted and a mini formatting tool bar will
appear.
I can't find the icon!!!
You know what you want to do, searched
in Help for the answer but back in Office the icon isn't on
the Ribbon where it should be.
The issue is that the Ribbon is
optimised for a screen resolution of 1024 × 768 pixels so if
your resolution is smaller or your programme window is minimised
some groups of commands on a tab will shrink and only a single icon
is shown. However if you click on the small down
arrow on the icon the entire group of commands will then
display.
I want to see a familiar dialogue
box
At the bottom right hand side of some
groups of commands there is a small diagonal pointing arrow.
This arrow means that the group of commands will open up to display
a dialogue box, window or pane to help you with your task.
For instance in Word the familiar Page
Setup dialogue box will open by clicking on the arrow in the Page
Setup group of commands under the Page Layout tab.
What can't you do?
You can't add, rearrange, change or
remove any commands or groups of commands on the Ribbon so don't
try.
You can't change the font or font
size.
And finally you can't go back
to the toolbars and menus from earlier versions of Microsoft
Office - you'll just have to learn to love the Ribbon..........
